From 07df58d48473bd86e8a129c98b9e88dc52d776e1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: bangerth <bangerth@0785d39b-7218-0410-832d-ea1e28bc413d>
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 20:57:33 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Allow using the copy constructor of FiniteElement.

git-svn-id: https://svn.dealii.org/trunk@14535 0785d39b-7218-0410-832d-ea1e28bc413d
---
 deal.II/deal.II/include/fe/fe.h | 31 +++++++++----------------------
 deal.II/deal.II/source/fe/fe.cc | 15 ---------------
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

diff --git a/deal.II/deal.II/include/fe/fe.h b/deal.II/deal.II/include/fe/fe.h
index 11ba6bdb10..c132c4f7b1 100644
--- a/deal.II/deal.II/include/fe/fe.h
+++ b/deal.II/deal.II/include/fe/fe.h
@@ -378,22 +378,6 @@ class FiniteElement : public Subscriptor,
     };
 
   public:
-                                     /**
-                                      * Copy constructor. This one is declared
-                                      * as a public constructor to avoid
-                                      * certain compiler errors when a copy
-                                      * constructor is required even if it is
-                                      * not executed (for example when binding
-                                      * a temporary object to a constant
-                                      * reference). However, if you try to
-                                      * actually call it, it will throw an
-                                      * exception, since copying finite
-                                      * element objects is not really
-                                      * supported. If you want to copy such an
-                                      * object, use the @p clone function.
-                                      */
-    FiniteElement (const FiniteElement &);
-    
 				     /**
 				      * Constructor
 				      */
@@ -2128,12 +2112,15 @@ class FiniteElement : public Subscriptor,
     virtual UpdateFlags update_each (const UpdateFlags flags) const = 0;
   
 				     /**
-				      * @p clone function instead of
-				      * a copy constructor.
-				      *
-				      * This function is needed by the
-				      * constructors of FESystem as well
-				      * as by the hp::FECollection class.
+				      * A sort of virtual copy
+				      * constructor. Some places in
+				      * the library, for example the
+				      * constructors of FESystem as
+				      * well as the hp::FECollection
+				      * class, need to make copied of
+				      * finite elements without
+				      * knowing their exact type. They
+				      * do so through this function.
 				      */
     virtual FiniteElement<dim> *clone() const = 0;    
     
diff --git a/deal.II/deal.II/source/fe/fe.cc b/deal.II/deal.II/source/fe/fe.cc
index a1b0d8e4f3..6def406a71 100644
--- a/deal.II/deal.II/source/fe/fe.cc
+++ b/deal.II/deal.II/source/fe/fe.cc
@@ -212,21 +212,6 @@ FiniteElement<dim>::FiniteElement (
 }
 
 
-template <int dim>
-FiniteElement<dim>::FiniteElement (const FiniteElement<dim> &)
-		:
-		Subscriptor(),
-		FiniteElementData<dim>(),
-                cached_primitivity (false)
-{
-  Assert (false,
-          ExcMessage ("Finite element objects don't support copying "
-                      "semantics through the copy constructor. If "
-                      "you want to copy a finite element, use the "
-                      "clone() function."));
-}
-
-
 
 template <int dim>
 FiniteElement<dim>::~FiniteElement ()
-- 
2.39.5